


Into the Light

by tonysnark96



Series: Heroes Rising [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Aaron Holden-Stark, Aaron is definitely his father's son, And Civil War will not happen, But he's his own person too, But they're all here, Civil War isn't canon, F/M, I'm not tagging all the Avengers, M/M, This takes place before Civil War, Tony Stark's kid, plus some original characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 16:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17348216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonysnark96/pseuds/tonysnark96
Summary: "Sometimes, you've got to step out of the shadows, Dad, and into the light. I can't pretend to be someone I'm not forever.""You're not pretending to be someone you're not. You're just not admitting that you're my son. Believe me, it's better this way."ORWhere Tony Stark enrolls his illegitimate son into Midtown Tech to keep an eye on Peter Parker. However, he was not expecting for his son to fall in love with Peter.





	1. Prologue

**_The day Aaron Holden-Stark returned to_** New York City from boarding school for the next several weeks happened to be one of the biggest days of his life.

"Dad?" the newly-turned fifteen year old called out when he opened the door to the small flat his father, Tony Stark, had discreetly rented for Aaron to live during the summer and winter breaks.

"In the kitchen," came the response.

Aaron quickly deposited his suitcase filled with all his stuff in his room, and then went into the kitchen, where he was greeted by his father. The kitchen table hosted a laptop, in which Tony had opened, though facing away from Aaron. His dad, however, was sitting in one of the two chairs, far enough from the laptop that the food he was eating wouldn't get over the technology. Aaron's eyes went straight to the bag of fast food, only too glad to see that it was from the Chinese place down the street he loved so much.

"Sit down," Tony told his son, his brown eyes gesturing towards the other chair, which was conveniently placed in a way that the laptop would still be faced away from Aaron. "Eat. I got you your General Tso's you like."

Knowing there was no point in arguing, Aaron sat down, and pulled the bag closer to him. He got the container of food out of the bag, and quickly opened it. The brown-haired kid managed a few bites, before nodding his head towards the computer.

"What's up with the laptop?" he inquired.

Tony sighed. "I have a favor to ask of you. Well, alright. I'll be honest. It's not entirely a favor because I'm not really giving you much of a choice."

Aaron kept his face completely neutral, not letting his father see how nervous he was. "What do you need me to do?" he managed, glad he was able to keep his voice from cracking.

"Well, for starters, you're not going back to that boarding school next year-"

"What?!" Aaron exclaimed. "Why? I love it there, and I have all my friends and-"

Tony held up a hand, and Aaron went quiet. "I've enrolled you in a local private school, Midtown School of Science and Technology, although from what I understand, it's more commonly called Midtown Tech. Which I can understand, as that is an unfortunate mouthful to have to spew at people."

"Why?" Aaron's question came out of his mouth before his mouth-to-brain filter could stop it.

His dad made the slightly-annoyed sigh he did when interrupted by someone he actually cared about.

"I was getting to that, Aaron," Tony said, trying to sound patient.

"You know how we've recently added a few new members to the Avengers?" Tony didn't even wait for Aaron to nod his head, before continuing on. "Well, I figured if we're going so far to add new members to the team, the least I could do is look for new recruits. I've been on the internet over the past few months, scouting for anyone who's heard of anyone with superpowers, or just some brave soul who's saving people."

Tony paused for a second, staring at Aaron, their eyes meeting each other. The teenager was sure his father wasn't asking for him to say anything, just pausing for dramatic effect.

Sure enough, after a couple beats, Tony continued on. "Well, low-and-behold, I found something on the internet." Finally, Tony turned the computer for Aaron to see what was on it.

It was opened up to YouTube, and a video entitled  **NEW YORK'S VERY OWN SPIDER-HERO?**  was loaded. Tony pressed play quickly, and Aaron's eyes went wide as he watched some person with a crudely made red costume shoot what looked like spiderwebs out of some kind of device, and swing around Manhattan. Whoever was filming the person was shaking the camera really bad, and it was only a few moments long, before it then changed scenes quickly. Aaron couldn't tell if the video was being shot by the same person, although he doubted it. This person wasn't shaking it quite as much, and it was a little more easy to make out. It was the same person, helping some old lady get her purse back from some guy. It showed the person using the spiderweb stuff to stick the purse-thief to the sidewalk, grab the purse, and hand it back to the old lady.

The video ended with a quick scrawl noting how New York had a hero they could count on to help the small people. Whoever had posted the video asked people in the comments to help pick out a name to call the new hero.

Once the video ended, Tony turned the laptop back towards himself, clicked a button on it, and then pushed it to the side again. He then turned to his son, two pairs of brown eyes meeting again.

"Now, you know me. I had to do research. Looked into this Spider-Guy, make sure he's legit and all. Found more people talking about him. And I also figured out who he was."

There was another beat of silence, and Aaron recognized this one as one where his father wanted a question asked.

"Who?" Aaron asked.

Tony turned the laptop back around so that Aaron could see. His dad had opened up a new tab, in which a Facebook profile for a Peter Parker could be seen. Aaron quickly skimmed the profile information, and then turned to look at his dad, his brown eyes incredulous.

"Are you telling me that this Spider-Guy is some fifteen year old kid? You're telling me you're looking at someone my age to join the Avengers?"

The look he received from his father was more than enough confirmation.

"So, what am I supposed to do in this situation?" Aaron asked. "I'm still confused as to why I have to go to a new school."

Tony gave him a very pointed look at that. "Don't you understand? Yes, this Peter Parker is fifteen. But if he has abilities, he could be a valuable asset to the Avengers. I need you to go do recon. I need you to befriend this kid, so we can figure out exactly what he is able to do. I need you to keep him safe, because as you pointed out, he's only fifteen. Of course, I'm not insane enough to let him join the Avengers at age fifteen, so I'd like him to remain unscathed before he turns eighteen, Aaron."

Tony took a small pause, and looked at his son, his dark brown eyes suddenly full of concern. "He has an aunt, son. She's his primary caregiver, he lost his parents years ago, and his uncle more recently. I need you to keep him safe. You know how dangerous it is to be a hero."

The two of them sat there in silence for a while, as Aaron knew exactly what his dad was talking about. The fifteen-year-old was well aware of all the times he'd been nervous over the past few years, whenever his dad decided to be a superhero. Whenever it became public knowledge that the Avengers were going to go out and save the world, Aaron became a nervous wreck, scared he wasn't going to see his father again. So far, nothing too bad had happened, minus Tony sending a nuke into space, but that hadn't turned out as bad as it could've been. The worst had been when he'd gone missing for several days, shortly after the Battle of Manhattan. That had been one of the worst week of Aaron's whole life, watching for some evidence that his dad was okay. Thankfully, he'd been on Winter Break, and had been at the flat for a couple of weeks, so that none of his friends would get suspicious over why he was so concerned.

"Yeah, no I can understand," Aaron responded after the moment of quiet was up. "I wouldn't want to wish that on anyone else."

Tony nodded his head, his brown eyes narrowed slightly. "So, do you see why I need you, Aaron?"

You want me to keep this Peter Parker kid safe so that his aunt doesn't have to worry too much? Alright, I can do that. But, you can't expect me to do it all for nothing."

Tony's eyes narrowed even more. "What are you talking about, son?"

"I want you to be more open about me," Aaron responded. He could tell that his dad was about to argue, so he continued on before Tony could say anything. "Don't get me wrong, I don't expect you to just blab to the whole world about me. But, you're always going on about how you trust the rest of the Avengers, right? Even the newer members."

To Aaron's surprise, Tony started laughing. "You just want to meet the team, don't you?" He didn't sound mad at all, instead it seemed like he found the whole thing hilarious.

"No," Aaron replied. "If that was the case, I would've asked you to introduce me as an intern or something. I want you to stop treating me like such a secret. I want you to introduce me to the Avengers as exactly what I am, your son."

Instead of responding with a resounding no, like Aaron half-thought his dad would've done, Tony seemed to mull over the idea for several minutes. The two of them sat there, in a completely non-awkward silence, as Aaron polished off his General Tso's chicken. He'd just finished the last bite when Tony finally responded.

"Alright," he said. "I'll introduce you to the team as my kid.  _After_  you start school at Midtown Tech." He must've seen the argumentative look in Aaron's eyes, because Tony held up a hand to stop Aaron from arguing. "No, listen to me. You'll need to meet up with me at least once a week when you start going, to fill me in on what's going on with Parker, right? You can come to the new Avengers Facility to do so, and it'll be much easier to explain why you're going there to the general public than it be to explain why I'm coming here. We'll just tell them you have an internship with me, and voila. Problem solved."

Aaron wanted to argue, but his dad had several good points. While he wanted his dad to be more open to people about him, he had to admit that the world was not ready to be aware of his presence. Nor was  _he_  ready, if he had to be honest. He knew that if the world discovered that he was Tony Stark's son, he would never get a moment of peace. Reporters would be following him almost everywhere, and Aaron wouldn't be able to do anything without the risk of some reporter taking a picture of him to send to some gossip magazine. And that was the last thing he wanted.

"Okay," Aaron told his dad, a smile on his face. "So, when do I go to Midtown Tech to get my classes sat up?"


	2. Chapter One

**_The week before Aaron was due_** to start school at Midtown Tech, the fifteen-year-old was getting ready for his first day at his new school when his dad decided to pay a visit.

Tony Stark was the only person, besides Aaron, who didn't have to buzz up to the top apartment in order to get in. So, there were quite a few times during the summer that Tony had just arrived, and had scared Aaron, who'd hadn't been expecting his dad. This time was no exception.

The music was blasting as loud as Aaron dared, as he double checked everything he needed for Midtown Tech. He hadn't even noticed that the door had opened, with how enthralled he was in his own thoughts.

There was a part of him that was really looking forward to starting a new school, considering some minor difficulties that had happened the previous year. However, there was also a part of him that was scared that he was about to be entering a place he'd never been, into an environment he'd never been in. Back in his boarding school, he'd been one of the more popular kids, and everyone always invited him to parties, simply for the fact that he made the best playlists possible. But, how could be be sure that it would be the same at Midtown Tech?

"You wanna turn the music down?"

Aaron quickly turned around, to find his dad standing there, a scowl on his face, which was probably from Aaron's taste in music, which was vastly different from his father's. Not that there was anything wrong with the classic rock his dad listened to, but Aaron liked a lot of varieties of music and his playlists tend to show that.

"Hey, dad," Aaron greeted Tony, a smile on his face. He quickly took his phone out of his pocket, and shut off his music. "What're you doing here? I thought you said you were coming on Saturday, but it's only Wednesday-"

Tony held up a hand, and Aaron quickly went quiet.

"I know, but something's come up in the team and I won't be able to make it on Saturday. And no, I can't tell you what's happening, that's classified. Watch the news on Saturday, it should be there, and then if you have any questions afterwards, I can probably answer them then." He took a quick breath, and then smiled. "Anyways, I just wanna run down a few things past you, just to make sure you're aware of what all needs to be done-"

"What? Befriend Peter Parker and make sure he stays safe and doesn't die before he turns eighteen, right? What else?"

"Well," Tony replied, his eyes narrowed, probably annoyed that Aaron had interrupted, "there's the cover story so that no one-"

"Knows that I'm actually the son of the great Tony Stark? I know. We went through this at the beginning of the summer. If anyone asks, I'm transferring to Midtown Tech because my father wants me closer to home." Aaron wasn't trying to be rude or anything, he just wanted his father to understand they didn't have to go through all of this again. He already had it memorized because he actually understood how important it was to keep his real identity a secret.

"And if someone asks what your father does?"

"He's a lawyer at Stark Industries," Aaron immediately responded. It had always been their cover story, even when Aaron had gone to boarding school. It was the closest to the truth they could ever get, and the only way to really explain the money that Aaron clearly had.

Tony nodded his head, clearly satisfied with his son's answer. "Now, I've managed to get you into four of Peter's classes, which was the most I could do and still keep to the best educational path for you. And I managed to get the principal to have Peter be your guide for you to show you around the school the first few days until you get the hang of it."

Aaron didn't even bother asking how his father managed to do that without giving away who he was, instead he nodded his head.

"Here's your final schedule," Tony finished, handing Aaron a piece of paper. "I've starred the four classes you and Peter share."

Aaron grabbed the schedule, and quickly glanced it over. Apparently he'd be sharing Chemistry, American History, Gym, and Computer Technologies with Peter. Out of all of those, the computer class was the one that got Aaron the most excited. Quite like his father, he was very good when it came to machines, and he'd been good with them as long as he could remember. His boarding school had left quite a bit lacking when it came to it's computer classes, but considering how Midtown Tech's full name had the word technology in it, he was hopeful they would prove to have a more challenging course for him.

"Alright, thanks, Dad," Aaron replied, and he meant it too. When he looked over his schedule, it was clear that Tony had tried his hardest to make sure his classes were great for his strengths. He wasn't particularly looking forward to first hour AP English, but he figured that he'd be able to breeze through it as easily as he had back in boarding school, despite the subject being one of his least favorites.

The two of them stood around a little awkwardly for a few moments, before Tony's cell phone started to blare loudly. With a quick glance at Aaron, the Avenger answered the phone.

"What do you want, Rogers?" Tony demanded, and Aaron's eyebrows rose in curiosity. If Steve Rogers, better known to the public as Captain America, was calling Aaron's dad, the teenager knew something was gonna go down. He knew better than most (except maybe the rest of the Avengers) that the two of them didn't get along as well as they acted most of the time.

Aaron couldn't hear Steve's response, but the way his dad's eyes narrowed, the teenager had a slightly bad feeling about it.

"Not that it's any of your concern where I am, but I was about to come back to the tower in a few minutes." There was a pause where Steve must've attempted to respond, but Tony raised his hand slightly, and Aaron knew his father was cutting the man off. "I understand we have a mission, Rogers, but I was also under the impression that it wasn't going to kickstart until tomorrow morning. Why does it matter if I'm not at the tower right now?" There was a longer pause, as Tony clearly was letting Steve reply, and Aaron really wished there was a way to hear what was going on on the other side of the conversation.

After several moments, Tony finally responded, his voice slightly bitter, although Aaron could tell his father was trying to hold back. "Oh, and your sources saying this is viable information? Okay, fine, I should be back to the tower in a half hour at the latest, and it's really none of your business what I'm doing right now. It has nothing to do with the Avengers, so you don't need to know."

With that, Tony hung up the phone, and looked at his son, a resigned look on his face. "Guess I'll have to be leaving now, apparently the good Captain got information on our mission and it's  _'imperative'_  that we leave today and not tomorrow." The Avenger rolled his eyes, before sighing. "Hopefully we're still back before Sunday, because I'll stop by then to give you a proper send off to school, son." He gave Aaron a crooked grin, before continuing, "You have a good few days, son, and I'll see you Sunday. At the very least, I'll call you, alright?"

Aaron nodded his head, and grimaced slightly as his father ruffled his hair affectionately, before leaving the apartment. Right as he was about to open the door to leave, Tony turned to look at his son, and smiled. "Love you, kid."

"Love you too, Dad," Aaron responded, a soft smile on his face.

~~*~~

That Saturday morning, as Tony had told his son to, Aaron turned the evening news, as he figured that was more than likely when the news would cover whatever was supposed to be happening then. He wasn't disappointed, as the first thing the news anchor started talking about was a press release that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers had headed.

Instead of the news anchor explaining what the press release had been about, she just automatically cut to the video footage of it.

There, in front of the podium stood Aaron's father and Captain America, with Tony being decked out in a fancy suit and Steve being in his Captain America outfit, both of them looking quite civilized with each other.

"As many of you guys are probably aware of," Tony was speaking, "the Avengers had a mostly small outing dealing with a rogue Hydra agent we hadn't found until recently. And, it of course ended up with the Avengers beating the Hydra agent, and he is now currently residing in a jail cell." Aaron's dad smirked at that, and Aaron was happy everything had gone okay.

Tony then looked at Steve, and asked, "You want the honors of the bigger news Cap?"

Steve nodded his head, and turned to the reporters. "You guys know about the rogue Hydra agent. However, what you are more than likely unaware of is that this was also a test mission, of sorts. Many of you are aware that the Avengers have been recruiting a lot of newer members these days, with the more notable ones being Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, James Rhodes, James Barnes, Scott Lang, and the half-android, Vision. Most of you are also aware of why, with the fact that Bruce Banner and Thor are both still MIA, and Clint Barton having retired. However, we have decided to add yet a new member onto the team, one who would be able to fill Barton's role he had serviced on the team. This was the mission we used to test her, and this is the mission that lead her to being part of the team."

"Everyone, meet Taylor Walton," Tony interrupted, not looking like he was all that ashamed of himself. Aaron didn't blame his dad, Rogers had taken far too long to introduce the newest Avenger, and had Aaron been in his dad's position, he definitely would've done the same thing.

At Tony's words, a darker skinned girl with her black hair up in a tight braid, entered the room. She came to stand by Tony and Steve, who made room for her in the middle.

At that point, the footage cut back to the news anchor, who went on to explain that Taylor Walton had apparently been a SHIELD agent, back when the agency actually existed. She had been trained by Clint Barton, and it had been him who'd recommended she take his place on the team.

The rest of the news was relatively boring to Aaron, who shut it off to find something else to do with the rest of his time.

~~*~~

The next day, Aaron was expecting his father to show up to talk to him about Midtown Tech some more, but he wasn't exactly sure when Tony was going to show up. He hoped it was before too late, because he still wanted to call his friend, Eric Vaskatii, who he hadn't talked to in a few days. Just because Aaron wasn't going back to his boarding school didn't mean he couldn't still talk to his friends from there.

Luckily for him, Tony decided to come at around eleven in the morning, and he came baring Starbucks.

"Here you go," Tony told his son, handing the brown-haired teen his usual White Chocolate Macchiato.

"Thanks, Dad," Aaron said, as he took a drink of his coffee.

"Did you watch the news yesterday"

Aaron nodded his head until he swallowed the sip he'd taken. "Yeah. Was fighting the Hydra agent harder than you made it seem at the press release? Because otherwise I can't figure out why Steve would've made you guys go earlier."

"Well, first things first, there were a few more than just one Hydra agent. It was an underground bunker that Barnes had heard about from a few contacts he's made in the past few months. That's sort of why I was reluctant to believe anything, because who knows how good contacts you only met a couple months ago could be. But the rest of the Avengers thought it'd be a good idea to try, and therefore we did."

"The news didn't explicitly say who all went with," Aaron began. He know his father would tell him more, Tony loved reliving a lot of what the Avengers went through on their missions, although there were definitely occasions that he wouldn't relive. The fight against Aldrich Killian and the time he launched a missile into space were two of the bigger 'no-no' topics that his father disliked being brought up.

Tony smiled, "That's because they wouldn't exactly know, now would they? It wasn't necessarily a difficult battle, because if it had been, we wouldn't of let Walton tag along. No, it was just a few of us: Rogers, Walton, Romanoff, Vision, Maximoff, and I. Barnes seemed annoyed that he wasn't allowed to tag along, but considering how he's still the newest member of the team, even Rogers had to admit he should stay behind. We couldn't have too many of the newer members with, not with this being a test for Walton as it was."

Tony took a deep breath, and then looked at Aaron, a smile on his face. "You ready for school tomorrow, son?"

Aaron nodded his head again. "Yeah, I've checked my stuff at least twenty times to make sure I have everything, and I've even made sure I have a decent shirt picked out. I admit, it's going to be a little strange being able to wear whatever I want to school with minimal restrictions, but I think I have the perfect shirt picked out."

"Yeah, what's that?" Tony asked, sounding intrigued.

"That Iron Man shirt Uncle Rhodey got me for Christmas last year," Aaron responded, sounding smug.

There weren't many people who were privy of the knowledge of Aaron being related to Tony, in fact only six people had ever known about his relation with the Avenger, and one of those were dead. His mom, wherever the woman was, had known of course, but Tony had also opened up about him to his ex-girlfriend, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, his best friend, Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes, his close friend, and head of security, Happy Hogan, and Obadiah Stane, who had been a close friend and had helped Tony run Stark Industries before it turned out the man was dealing Stark Industry weapons illegally to terrorists and tried killing Tony when the man had tried stopping him. He was the dead guy. The only other person who knew who Aaron really was was his personal driver, and sometimes bodyguard (whenever Tony deemed it necessary), Isaac Loff, who was an old friend of Rhodey from the army.

"You're not seriously planning on wearing an Iron Man t-shirt to your first day of school, are you?" Tony asked, incredulous.

"Why not?" Aaron asked. "It's not like people are going to see that and automatically assume I'm your kid or anything. And anyways, I looked at Peter's Facebook and Twitter and he's definitely a fan of Iron Man." He shrugged, trying to act nonchalantly, although he had a feeling his dad saw right through him.

He wanted it to seem like it wasn't that big of a deal that he'd looked up Peter, to try to learn as much about the boy as he could before meeting him, even though some people would see that as very stalker-like. For Aaron though, it was more because he didn't want to disappoint his dad and do something that would make Peter hate him forever. This was the first serious thing his dad was asking him to do, the first thing that actually could matter in the long-run. Aaron knew he couldn't mess it up.

Instead of saying anything about Aaron looking up Peter, Tony nodded his head. "Alright, fine. You can wear your Iron Man t-shirt." He then looked at his watch, and sighed. "I wished I could stay longer, Aaron, but Pepper needs me back at the company for a few meetings." He groaned.

"Tell her I say hi?" Aaron asked. He liked Pepper, and had been pretty upset when he'd found out that her and Tony had broken off their relationship. He still didn't understand why she'd suddenly decided that Tony being Iron Man was too much for her to deal with, but Aaron had tried to not hold it against her. She was still the only motherly figure in his life, and he was proud that Tony still let the two of them talk.

"Of course," Tony responded, smiling. He gave his son a brief hug, before leaving the apartment, leaving Aaron to his own thoughts and worries about what the next day would bring.

"Here's to hoping I don't screw everything up," Aaron murmured to himself as he took the last sip of his coffee.


	3. Chapter Two

**_Peter Parker loved being a superhero,_**  loved being someone New York could count on to keep the streets safe of muggers and other smaller crimes that the cops weren't able to stop in time. He loved the anonymity of hiding behind the mask, of no one really knowing who he was. There was something soothing about swinging from building-to-building with his webs that made him happy, no matter what was happening. He liked the feeling of being responsible for his city's safety, of the place he called home seeing his alter-ego as a hero that would be there to keep them safe when the cops or the few superhero squads that resided there couldn't.

What Peter Parker  _didn't_  like was having to wake up at 6AM to get to school, because he had to be there early to show some new kid around. The school had contacted Aunt May during one of the final weeks of summer, to let them know that there was going to be a new kid at Midtown this year, and it would be up to Peter to make sure he felt at home. Peter didn't know much about this new kid, just that his name was Aaron Holden and that he would be at the front office twenty minutes before the first bell rang.

It took all the will he had to not hit the snooze button on his alarm, and to actually wake up. Peter got ready rather quickly, eating his bowl of Coco Puffs as he rushed around his and Aunt May's small apartment, making sure he had everything he needed for school. Once he was satisfied he did, he grabbed his homemade Spider-Man suit, and stuffed it in the bottom of his backpack, where hopefully no one would find it.

He made it to the school by seven thirty, and had managed to drop his backpack off at his locker and got to the office just at twenty to eight.

By the office stood a kid taller than Peter, who looked oddly familiar, although Peter couldn't figure out why. He had dark brown hair and light brown eyes, and he looked utterly bored. The kid, who Peter assumed was Aaron, was wearing a light brown zip-up sweater, which was opened and revealing a shirt with an Iron Man logo on it.

Peter walked up to the kid, and held out his hand. "You must be Aaron," he told the boy. "I'm Peter Parker."

Aaron looked at Peter's hand for a split second, before grabbing it and shaking it. "They didn't tell me I'd hit the jackpot of tour guides," he greeted, winking at Peter.

The shorter boy blushed, not sure what to think about the fact that this guy he'd just met was flirting with him.

"You look really familiar," Peter admitted.

Aaron simply shrugged, his brown eyes ablaze with obvious curiosity. "I mean, the only place I can think of that you'd of seen me before would be in your dreams, Peter."

Peter blushed even deeper, before stuttering out a, "Welcome to Midtown School of Science and Technology."

The other boy smiled, although it looked a little forced to Peter. "Thanks, I'm looking forward to my time here."

There was something a little off about his voice, but Peter just shrugged it off. He figured that Aaron was probably just nervous about starting a new school, either that or he just didn't actually want to be at Midtown, and he was just being polite.

"Where's your locker at?" Peter asked.

Without even taking a moment to think, Aaron responded with, "It's locker number one-oh-eight."

"Oh, that's only a couple down from me," Peter told the brunette boy. "Here, I'll show you where it is." He started walking away, although he turned back around to make sure Aaron was still following him.

When the two boys arrived to where Aaron's locker was, Peter was surprised to see his best friend, Ned Leeds, standing next to Peter's locker, apparently waiting for Peter to show up.

"Hey, Ned, what're you doing here already?" he asked the other boy.

"I could ask you the same thing," Ned shot back. "Who's this?" He gestured towards where Aaron was.

The new boy simply cracked a smile at Ned, and smoothly held his hand out. "The name is Aaron Holden, and I'm new here. Pete here was just showing me around your guys' lovely school."

"Umm, yeah, what he said," Peter confirmed when Ned looked at him for confirmation. "Aaron, this is my best friend, Ned Leeds." Peter then narrowed his eyes at his best friend. "You never did answer why you're here this early."

"My mom decided to drop me off a little early today so that I could be sure I was ready for the first day of school," Ned responded, smiling. "I just got here a couple minutes ago."

"Well, I promised I'd show Aaron around, but you can tag along if you want," Peter offered. He quickly glanced at Aaron to make sure it was alright, and saw that the boy had moved to his locker, and was quickly placing his bag into the locker. He shut his locker after grabbing a binder from the bag, and then he leaned casually against his locker, his brown eyes watching Peter and Ned carefully.

"Umm, it's okay if Ned joins us as I show you where your classes are, right?" Peter asked, suddenly a little nervous.

Shrugging, Aaron responded, "Sure." He looked at his wrist for a split second before looking back up to Peter. "But doesn't the bell ring in like five minutes? Maybe you just show me where my first hour class is and then you can just give me the tour as the day goes?"

"Umm, yeah, of course. Sorry, I didn't realize that the time had gone so fast-" Peter started to apologize, but stopped when Aaron held up one of his hands, a grin tugging at his lips.

"It's alright, Parker," he said. "Time sometimes slips away from us. I understand. You wanna get your stuff though so you can show me where my first hour AP English with a Mrs. Brandt is? It should be room number 51?" Peter was surprised he remembered all of that without even consulting a schedule or like, his hand.

"Do you have your whole schedule memorized or something?" Ned blurted, which made Peter want to face palm. Ned would always be his best friend, but sometimes Peter wished his friend would learn the art of subtly.

Aaron didn't seem all that concerned though, as he simply shrugged again. "I have a nearly perfect memory. I mean, my brain isn't necessarily fond of stuff like English or Social Studies, but for some reason likes remembering trivial things like my schedule."

"Woah," Ned breathed, sounding amazed. "That's  _awesome_ dude!"

"Well, Mrs. Brandt's classroom is only a hallway down from where my first period is, so come on," Peter said, before Ned could say anything that could embarrass him any further.

Sure, Peter wasn't exactly sure what to make of Aaron, but that was one of the reasons Peter wouldn't mind being friends with the boy. He was extremely curious, and simply wanted to find out more about him. That, and because he wanted Aaron to feel like he was welcome at Midtown Tech, and sure, he and Ned weren't exactly popular, but Peter figured they could make Aaron feel like he had a place to belong at the school.

"Alright, let's go," Aaron replied, a smile upon his face.

The three of them made the small journey to classroom fifty-one in relative silence, and once they got there, Peter smiled at Aaron. "Alright, this is Mrs. Brandt's classroom," he said. "I'll meet you back here after first hour, alright? What's your next class?"

"Chemistry with Mr. Roe, room twenty-four," Aaron responded, a smile on his face.

"I'd have to double check my schedule, but I'm pretty sure I have the same class," Peter responded. To his surprise, Aaron didn't look too shocked by that, and instead the other brunette simply nodded his head.

"See you then, Peter," Aaron said, a small smile on his face. With that, he disappeared into the English classroom, and Peter and Ned were left alone.

"Does he look familiar to you?" Peter asked his best friend as the two made their way to their first period.

Ned simply shrugged. "I mean, is he supposed to? He's a new kid, right? Maybe he just transferred here from a different school in town and maybe you've seen him around that way?"

"Yeah, yeah, maybe that's it," Peter replied. "I mean, we can just ask him later, right?" When Ned simply nodded his head, Peter smiled. "You have first hour study hall, right?"

"Yup," Ned responded. "Let's get going. I've heard that Mr. Dull can be pretty strict when you're late."

With that, the two boys headed down the couple of halls until they got to their first hour class, and Peter found himself looking forward to the end of first period, just so he could try to get some more answers out of Aaron. The new kid was most definitely a curiosity, and Peter had a feeling it was going to take a while to get any kind of idea of exactly who this new boy was.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, so this isn't my first book on this site, but it's my first one on this particular account. Now, I've got a Wattpad account under the name of tonysnark- and this book is on there as well, but I'm working on slowly moving all my fics over to this AO3 account.
> 
> So, this is going to be the first book of a Marvel Series that are all going to connect. I've got this one, and I'm working on companion fics for Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Loki Laufeyson, and Yondu Udonta. I'm not sure when they'll be up, but they will eventually go up. 
> 
> Quick side note, I'm using the MCU as a base for this series, but the timeline won't be the exact. And Civil War isn't ever happening in here, and stuff after Civil War will be slightly different but I'll still incorporate parts of them.
> 
> Anyways, hopefully you guys enjoy, and bare with me, I'm notoriously slow at updating anything.


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